Jan 10, 2012

I’ve now reached the Canterbury Plains, and the run was much flatter because of it. This was one of the reasons I had such a long day, although I don’t want to be doing 60 km every day.

I actually ran most of the day on back roads that paralleled the main road, with a lot of it on dirt. These roads were very, very quiet, almost to the point of being lonely. But I’d much prefer that to running on a busy highway.

I did have one dramatic moment though. Google maps indicated a through-road, but I suddenly reached a “Road Ends” sign. It became clear that a road used to go over a small river, but it no longer did. I had two options – go back 4 km, in which case I would have run 8 km that I couldn’t count in my total, or wade across the small rapids. I chose the latter, and videoed it. The video should be uploaded soon, if it isn’t already.

We are staying tonight at another magnificent house in the countryside, courtesy of a lovely couple, Anne and Paul, and their daughter Bridgette. We are truly being spoilt by the amazing generosity we’re encountering on a daily basis. But we’re not complaining!